David Wahl on Creativity and Marketing

One last Keith Johnstone story: The Final Note

On the final day of our workshop Keith Johnstone was very tired and grumpy.

As the day wore on, his notes after scenes grew terse and pointed. He was especially impatient with people that made the same boring mistakes repeatedly.

I was in the final scene of the day with two other actors. It didn’t go very well. The first person to get notes got a long sigh and a reminder to be more present in the scene and not drift off into their own world. I got the next note, much grumpier that I needed to be in the scene physically not just verbally.

Johnstone then looked at the final improviser. He was an enthusiastic person who had been improvising for about year. He was dressed in stained jeans and a loose, dirty sweatshirt with a giant smile on his face.

Johnstone just looked at him and said in a very angry voice, “And you… You should paint houses. The pay is good and you could wear the same clothes.”